Thanks in part to his love of lollipops, a Bear man has been cleared of a bank robbery charge, while state police continue looking for the real culprit.
It was the second such arrest in a week in which police nabbed -- and released -- the wrong man in a hunt for a bank robber, who remains on the lam after allegedly committing two holdups and an attempted heist elsewhere in the state.
"They look very much alike," state police spokeswoman Sgt. Melissa Zebley said of the two cases of mistaken identity. "We got an anonymous call -- someone who said they knew him and said it was this individual.
"Detectives created a photo lineup for the victim," she added, "and the teller identified him in 32 seconds."
Late Monday, a state police SWAT team, detectives and a K-9 dog converged on the suspect's Bear home to arrest the 25-year-old identified as having robbed a bank Friday in Bear.
Authorities said the suspect was the same man who tried to rob a Talleyville bank Monday morning.
The bank robber police were looking for -- wearing an oversize white baseball cap and an equally oversize designer shirt with cufflinks -- was not the man they arrested.
Coupled with a similar arrest in Lewes a week ago, two families say they are now fraught with embarrassment by false accusations by police.
"It's taken my pride and dignity away," said Teri Pruitt, son William was arrested at her home Monday night. "It's not even embarrassment -- it's my pride that my son has to be labeled a bank robber."
Teri Pruitt said she took one good look at the surveillance picture claiming to be her son, and acknowledged that it resembled him. But her son is about 20 pounds lighter and has chin hairs and a light mustache, she said.
Pruitt, of the 600 block of Huckleberry Ave. in Bear, was charged Monday with second-degree robbery and wearing a disguise during a felony in connection with a holdup Friday morning at Citizens Bank inside the Acme store at 146 Fox Hunt Drive in Bear.
He was released early Tuesday in lieu of $10,000 bail.
Pruitt also was considered a suspect in Monday's noontime heist at PNC Bank at 4111 Concord Pike in Talleyville.
Then detectives checked his alibi.
Around the time the PNC Bank was robbed, Pruitt's mother said, her son was with with her at Wachovia Bank on Del. 896 in Newark.
Teri Pruitt said that while she cashed a check, her son was snagging two blue lollipops from customer service -- a practice that earned him the nickname "Lollipop Boy," because the act is so routine.
Their visit was captured on bank surveillance video and cleared her son of any wrongdoing in the Talleyville caper.
"I think they might think twice on the next one," Teri Pruitt said.
The husky bandit also has been linked to another bank robbery last Tuesday at Wilmington Trust on Walker Road in Dover.
In that case, state police SWAT team members, armed with a warrant from Dover police for the arrest of Brock Charles, burst into the alleged suspect's mother's Angola home Wednesday night.
Charles was arrested and charged with second-degree robbery.
But he, too, had an alibi: He was working his construction job in Lewes when the Dover heist occurred.
Charges against Charles were later dismissed.
Charles' mother, Joanne Bateson, said the trauma has kept her out of work in the days since.
"They have destroyed my life, and put it on the news that my son is a bank robber," Bateson said.
She added that her home was wrecked in the raid. "I'm just beside myself."
Here's how police say the mix-up happened:
In both cases, the perceived suspect was identified by the public after police released a bank surveillance photo.
After the two men were identified by anonymous tipsters, their mug shots were shown to the victimized bank tellers in a photo array.
Each time, the teller identified the wrong man as the bank robber.
"We rely on the media and we rely on the calls," Zebley said. "They're not taken carte blanche. They're substantiated on another level. It was based on the victim's identification as well.
"This is very unusual that we have this circumstance," she said.
Pruitt's mother said she expects an apology.
"I want people to know my son is not a bank robber," Pruitt said. "I live in a community where people want to be safe, and I try to uphold the law. Now my neighbors don't feel safe in the community.
"I don't trust the police now to call them when my life is in danger," she said. "I have a totally new outlook on this now."
Zebley said the search is still on for the elusive bandit in the oversize white baseball cap.
http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060927/NEWS/609270364/-1/NEWS01
It was the second such arrest in a week in which police nabbed -- and released -- the wrong man in a hunt for a bank robber, who remains on the lam after allegedly committing two holdups and an attempted heist elsewhere in the state.
"They look very much alike," state police spokeswoman Sgt. Melissa Zebley said of the two cases of mistaken identity. "We got an anonymous call -- someone who said they knew him and said it was this individual.
"Detectives created a photo lineup for the victim," she added, "and the teller identified him in 32 seconds."
Late Monday, a state police SWAT team, detectives and a K-9 dog converged on the suspect's Bear home to arrest the 25-year-old identified as having robbed a bank Friday in Bear.
Authorities said the suspect was the same man who tried to rob a Talleyville bank Monday morning.
The bank robber police were looking for -- wearing an oversize white baseball cap and an equally oversize designer shirt with cufflinks -- was not the man they arrested.
Coupled with a similar arrest in Lewes a week ago, two families say they are now fraught with embarrassment by false accusations by police.
"It's taken my pride and dignity away," said Teri Pruitt, son William was arrested at her home Monday night. "It's not even embarrassment -- it's my pride that my son has to be labeled a bank robber."
Teri Pruitt said she took one good look at the surveillance picture claiming to be her son, and acknowledged that it resembled him. But her son is about 20 pounds lighter and has chin hairs and a light mustache, she said.
Pruitt, of the 600 block of Huckleberry Ave. in Bear, was charged Monday with second-degree robbery and wearing a disguise during a felony in connection with a holdup Friday morning at Citizens Bank inside the Acme store at 146 Fox Hunt Drive in Bear.
He was released early Tuesday in lieu of $10,000 bail.
Pruitt also was considered a suspect in Monday's noontime heist at PNC Bank at 4111 Concord Pike in Talleyville.
Then detectives checked his alibi.
Around the time the PNC Bank was robbed, Pruitt's mother said, her son was with with her at Wachovia Bank on Del. 896 in Newark.
Teri Pruitt said that while she cashed a check, her son was snagging two blue lollipops from customer service -- a practice that earned him the nickname "Lollipop Boy," because the act is so routine.
Their visit was captured on bank surveillance video and cleared her son of any wrongdoing in the Talleyville caper.
"I think they might think twice on the next one," Teri Pruitt said.
The husky bandit also has been linked to another bank robbery last Tuesday at Wilmington Trust on Walker Road in Dover.
In that case, state police SWAT team members, armed with a warrant from Dover police for the arrest of Brock Charles, burst into the alleged suspect's mother's Angola home Wednesday night.
Charles was arrested and charged with second-degree robbery.
But he, too, had an alibi: He was working his construction job in Lewes when the Dover heist occurred.
Charges against Charles were later dismissed.
Charles' mother, Joanne Bateson, said the trauma has kept her out of work in the days since.
"They have destroyed my life, and put it on the news that my son is a bank robber," Bateson said.
She added that her home was wrecked in the raid. "I'm just beside myself."
Here's how police say the mix-up happened:
In both cases, the perceived suspect was identified by the public after police released a bank surveillance photo.
After the two men were identified by anonymous tipsters, their mug shots were shown to the victimized bank tellers in a photo array.
Each time, the teller identified the wrong man as the bank robber.
"We rely on the media and we rely on the calls," Zebley said. "They're not taken carte blanche. They're substantiated on another level. It was based on the victim's identification as well.
"This is very unusual that we have this circumstance," she said.
Pruitt's mother said she expects an apology.
"I want people to know my son is not a bank robber," Pruitt said. "I live in a community where people want to be safe, and I try to uphold the law. Now my neighbors don't feel safe in the community.
"I don't trust the police now to call them when my life is in danger," she said. "I have a totally new outlook on this now."
Zebley said the search is still on for the elusive bandit in the oversize white baseball cap.
http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060927/NEWS/609270364/-1/NEWS01
